Page 179
Story: Princes of Chaos
Pace reaches for my face, his eyes filled with panic as he shouts my name. The last thing I think before oblivion takes me is that the Princess was right. Sometimes you have to rely on chaos.
It’s just better when you’re controlling it.
I feelweightless for a long while, drifting, heavy and sore.
I know there’s pain, but it’s too distant to worry about. Here, where everything is dark and quiet–where I can finally rest–I just allow the darkness to cradle me. I think of vacations and how nice it’d be to have one. No responsibilities. No jobs. No drills or exams. Me, on a beach, with some busty redhead. That sounds like a good time.
I’m clutching onto the thought of it as if I could conjure up a dream of my own making to get lost in when I hear familiar voices.
“... have to check him for a concussion,” Lex is saying, his voice low and grim. “What thefuckhappened out there?”
“I didn’t even see him coming,” Pace says, and through the fog, I feel fingers fluttering through my hair. Somehow, I know they’re his. “He was jonesing for a fight all night, but I thought Weller might–”
“Verne would never drop gloves,” Lex hisses.
With a growl, Pace snaps, “I fucking know! That’s why I wasn’t worried.”
“Why would he do this?” I can practically hear Lex pacing, and I know we’re all alone when he says, “Why now, when we’re finally making some headway with this Prince crap? Why does he have to be such a shit all the time?”
“Just my nature, I guess.” My eyes flutter open and I see them jump up, bracketing me, just like in bed. Pace on my left, Lex on my right. “How bad?” I ask, tasting blood. The lights pulse in my temples and I squint against them.
Lex looksfurious, his teeth gnashing out his words. “Bad enough. Congratu-fucking-lations, dickbag. You got what you wanted.” His latex gloves pull at my eyebrows when he lifts my eyelids wide, shining a pen light into my pupils. “The only thing you’ll be attending tonight is Pace’s funeral, seeing as how Father’s holdinghimresponsible for your behavior.”
I reach up to swat his hand away, but my whole abdomen explodes in agony. “That’s not what I wanted,” I groan, trying futilely to sit up.
Lex pushes my shoulder, slamming me back to the exam table. “Stay still!”
Pace is still wearing his pads, the twists in his hair plastered with sweat. “What the fuck, Wick?” He doesn’t look nearly as pissed as Lex, although I kind of wish he did. Right now, Pace is gazing down at me with such a confused look of betrayal that I feel it like a hook in my gut. What’s worse is the question he asks, filled with desperation. “Why?”
Swallowing, I blink heavily against the light Lex is shining into my eye. My nose feels like ground beef. “Mayfield.” It doesn’t make me feel much better to see the click of recognition in their eyes. “That was tonight’s job.”
Lex turns the penlight off, his face screwing up. “He was going to put you up for bid again? But you’re a Prince. You can’t fuck anyone–it’s against the coven–”
“They didn’t want me to be the product,” I say, coughing around something coppery-tasting. Holding Pace’s gaze, I explain, “They wanted me to escort Mrs. Moore as a bidder.”
Pace looks like he’s the one who just took a fist to the face, his expression plummeting. There’s a long moment where he just stares at me, throat bobbing like maybe he’s fighting the urge to vomit. “Why didn’t you tell us? If you had, I would have found a way to take you out of the game.”
Grimacing against the throb in my head, I say, “I wanted to keep you out of it. I swear, I did.”
“Jesus,” Lex whispers, and when I painfully haul my gaze to him, he’s three shades paler. “They wanted you to…?” He rubs a gloved palm over his face. “That’s beyond fucked up, even for Father.”
“I’ll go.” Pace says it like it’s simple. Just as simple as I’d known it’d be for them, accepting a punishment to rescue me from this. He pushes his hair back, and even though his eyes shutter with dread, he still nods. “I’ll take the punishment. Just–just promise me you’ll take care of Effie.”
Voice low, Lex cuts in, “Maybe I can take responsibility. The lashes don’t take long to heal, and you–”
“No,” Pace barks, pinning our brother with a hard look. “You’ve taken enough lashes for me. This is mine.”
But I squirm with the knowledge of how untrue that is. This ismine. I wanted–no,needed–it to be mine. As if I could wash away the guilt and humiliation of being ten years old again, up on that stage as those monsters eyed me like a piece of meat.
Father has never worked that way, though.
I squint up at Pace and grab his forearm. “I’m sorry, man.”
“Don’t apologize,” he replies, expression softer than I’d like. My fingers lose their grip and I slump back, too tired to argue, welcoming the darkness as it swallows me.
“Oh my god.”
Her voice cuts through the thickness and I try to open my eyes. Try and fail. Shit. Did #99 bruise them shut?
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213